And That's the REST of the Story...of Albert...

Sunday night

Monday morning

Late Monday morning! We were bummed, we missed the actual emergence. :( It happened very quickly, though, because we were keeping an eye on things!

It was still quite fascinating to watch!

If you are a Biologist (OR you are like me and look things up on Wikipedia), you will have noticed by now that it turns out Albert was actually Alberta! :) She took to Jason...he had a hard time getting her to leave his arm. But eventually she did. She surprised us, though, when we were outside Tuesday and she flew right up to us as if she were saying "hello"!! But since Tuesday, we haven't seen her again. We enjoyed our time with Alberta. We found her for the kids, but she thrilled all of us with her amazing transformation.

God's Bling

I apologize...I am NOT a photographer. And my camera is 6 years old and has this obsession with focusing on everything BEHIND the object I am trying to get a close-up of.

Today we noticed Albert's chrysalis has bling! Can you see it? Tiny little dots of gold line the rim and also dot the bottom curves. When the sun hits the gold, it sparkles like nothing mankind could ever reproduce.

(See what I mean about my dumb camera?! It was more interested in the trim of our countertop! Grrr) The chrysalis is fuzzy but I liked the way this picture captured some of the sparkles. Neither of my pictures do it justice, however.

I couldn't help but be reminded of the similarities to my own life in Albert and his chrysalis. I am just an ugly worm (sorry Mom..."worm" works better than "larva"!). But I'm in my chrysalis stage and God has put little bits of His bling on me. One day I will emerge from my chrysalis and be perfect. Beautiful and clothed in white linen.

Metamorphasis

At the very beginning, you'll see my shadow pass over him and then you'll hear the front door close. We decided to go for a walk and when we came home, Albert was almost done with his chrysalis!! I think it's funny how he seemed to wait for me to leave and then he immediately began transforming!

This is how he looks right now. You probably won't see Albert again for 10-14 days!

Just Hangin' Around

This was Albert last night around 10:30 or 11:00.

And here he is just a few minutes ago...around noon. Is it supposed to take this long with no changes?! Albert didn't croak did he??!!

Albert

Meet Albert. Albert is the newest addition to the Baker clan. He took up residence with us on Monday. Albert is a monarch butterfly caterpillar.

Monday and Tuesday Albert did A LOT of eating and A LOT of pooping.

This morning Albert did a lot of roaming around his little home. When we woke up this morning, we actually found Albert outside his home, perched on the rim! Jason carefully plucked him from his spot and placed him on a milkweed leaf safely back inside his home at which point Albert curled up in the fetal position. Poor Jason was concerned he harmed Albert...but in no time Albert was back up and roaming around his home. Albert did have a pretty traumatic day however, because after the Jason incident, the wind blew Albert and his home down from the windowsill into the kitchen sink! Poor Albert resumed the fetal position on the floor of his home.

Now safely on the counter, all afternoon Albert has been working on this little white dot of silk from which Albert will soon hang to form his chrysalis!

I don't know how much Albert enjoys being plucked from his serene milkweed home in Warren next to the interstate and rudely plunged into an environment of screaming, fighting children and being blown around inside some large plastic thing but we sure are enjoying watching him. :)